It is time to stop undermining the peoples’ vote on marriage and accept that this is the fairest way to resolve what has been a long-running, activist-driven public policy debate, the Australian Christian Lobby said today.

ACL Managing Director Lyle Shelton said he was disappointed that many who were in favour of redefining marriage were doing all they could to stop the plebiscite.

“The Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull has repeatedly said the plebiscite will be held after the next federal election,” Mr Shelton said.

“If proponents for change are so confident of overwhelming public support, why do they keep trying to have the peoples’ vote scrapped? Surely they would welcome the opportunity to have such a resounding endorsement of their vision for marriage and family,” Mr Shelton said.

“By doing whatever it takes to undermine the plebiscite, proponents of change are sending open-minded Australians a message that they would prefer to rush law change rather than allow people the opportunity to carefully examine the consequences.

“Sure democracy is expensive but the cost is reasonable given that redefining marriage is such a big and fundamental social change.

“For people who claim such strong support, it has been extraordinary to see the lengths they have gone to to undermine the democratic vote.

“Australians have shown that they can be trusted to respectfully debate such a sensitive issue.”